Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green was ejected in the third quarter of Tuesday’s 119-116 loss to the Phoenix Suns.
Officials assessed Green a flagrant-2 foul after he struck the face of Suns center Jusuf Nurkic.
Referees deemed Green’s contact to be “unnecessary and excessive.”
“What’s going on with him? I don’t know,” said Nurkic postgame, according to Ben Golliver of The Washington Post. “Personally, I feel like that brother needs help. I’m glad he didn’t try to choke me. At the same time, it ain’t nothing to do with basketball.”
The Warriors veteran finished with two points on 1-of-3 shooting from the field with two rebounds and two assists in 17 minutes.
For his part, Green did offer his apologies to Nurkic, saying he wasn’t trying to hit the Blazers forward.
“As you know, I’m not one to apologize for things that I meant to do, but I do apologize to Jusuf because I didn’t intend to hit him,” Green said postgame. “I sell calls with my arms … so I was just selling the call, because he was grabbing me and pulling my hip back so I spun away and, unfortunately, I hit him.”
It’s the third time this season that Green has been tossed from a contest.
Green was suspended five games earlier in the campaign when he put Rudy Gobert in a chokehold during a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The NBA based its punishment partly on “Green’s history of unsportsmanlike acts.”
Green was also issued a one-game ban for stomping on Domantas Sabonis in Game 2 of last season’s first-round playoff series against the Sacramento Kings.
Green will await a league office review and could be suspended once again, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Golden State signed Green to a four-year, $100-million contract extension this past summer. He’s averaging 10.2 points, 6.1 assists, and 5.8 boards across 14 appearances in 2023-24.
